#501(c)

[queerliblib]

QLL in the media again! Love what we’re doing?! Help us keep doing it 🌈 📚

[qidynamics]

“It’s an outlined program for Christian supremacy."

“That’s not a 501(c)(3) activity.”

A network of ultrawealthy Christian donors is spending nearly $12 million to mobilize Republican-leaning voters and purge more than a million people from the rolls in key swing states, aiming to tilt the 2024 election in favor of former President Donald Trump.

These previously unreported plans are the work of a group named Ziklag, a little-known charity whose donors have included some of the wealthiest conservative Christian families in the nation, including the billionaire Uihlein family, who made a fortune in office supplies, the Greens, who run Hobby Lobby, and the Wallers, who own the Jockey apparel corporation. Recipients of Ziklag’s largesse include Alliance Defending Freedom, which is the Christian legal group that led the overturning of Roe v. Wade, plus the national pro-Trump group Turning Point USA and a constellation of right-of-center advocacy groups.

EXCERPTS:

“We are in a spiritual battle and locked in a terrible conflict with the powers of darkness,” says a strategy document that lays out Ziklag’s 30-year vision to “redirect the trajectory of American culture toward Christ by bringing back Biblical structure, order and truth to our Nation.”

Ziklag was the brainchild of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur named Ken Eldred. It emerged from a previous organization founded by Eldred called United In Purpose, which aimed to get more Christians active in the civic arena, according to Bill Dallas, the group’s former director. United In Purpose generated attention in June 2016 when it organized a major meeting between then-candidate Trump and hundreds of evangelical leaders.

After Trump was elected in 2016, Eldred had an idea, according to Dallas. “He says, ‘I want all the wealthy Christian people to come together,’” Dallas recalled in an interview. Eldred told Dallas that he wanted to create a donor network like the one created by Charles and David Koch but for Christians.

The group’s stature grew after Trump took office. Vice President Mike Pence appeared at a Ziklag event, as did former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Sen. Ted Cruz, then-Rep. Mark Meadows and other members of Congress. In its private newsletter, Ziklag claims that a coalition of groups it assembled played “a hugely significant role in the selection, hearings and confirmation process” of Amy Coney Barrett for a Supreme Court seat in late 2020.

The Christian nationalism movement has a variety of aims and tenets, according to the Public Religion Research Institute: that the U.S. government “should declare America a Christian nation”; that American laws “should be based on Christian values”; that the U.S. will cease to exist as a nation if it “moves away from our Christian foundations”; that being Christian is essential to being American; and that God has “called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.”

The Seven Mountains theology embraces a different, less democratic approach to gaining power. “If the Moral Majority is about galvanizing the voters, the Seven Mountains is a revolutionary model: You need to conquer these mountains and let change flow down from the top,” said Matthew Taylor, a senior scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies and an expert on Christian nationalism. “It’s an outlined program for Christian supremacy."

A driving force behind Ziklag’s efforts is Lance Wallnau, a prominent Christian evangelist and influencer based in Texas who is described by Ziklag as a “Seven Mountains visionary & advisor.” He was one of the earliest evangelical leaders to endorse Trump in 2015 and later published a book titled “God’s Chaos Candidate: Donald J. Trump and the American Unraveling.”

One key document says that “the biblical role of government is to promote good and punish evil” and that “the word of God and prayer play a significant role in policy decisions.”

Other internal Ziklag documents voice strong opposition to same-sex marriage and transgender rights. One reads: “transgender acceptance = Final sign before imminent collapse.”

A prominent conservative getting money from Ziklag is Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer and Trump ally who joined the January 2021 phone call when then-President Trump asked Georgia’s secretary of state to “find��� enough votes to flip Georgia in Trump’s favor.

Mitchell now leads a network of “election integrity” coalitions in swing states that have spent the last three years advocating for changes to voting rules and how elections are run. According to one internal newsletter, Ziklag was an early funder of Mitchell’s post-2020 “election integrity” activism, which voting-rights experts have criticized for stoking unfounded fears about voter fraud and seeking to unfairly remove people from voting rolls. In 2022, Ziklag donated $600,000 to the Conservative Partnership Institute, which in turn funds Mitchell’s election-integrity work. Internal Ziklag documents show that it provided funding to enable Mitchell to set up election integrity infrastructure in Florida, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

EagleAI, which has claimed to use artificial intelligence to automate and speed up the process of challenging ineligible voters.

Now Mitchell is promoting a tool called EagleAI, which has claimed to use artificial intelligence to automate and speed up the process of challenging ineligible voters. EagleAI is already being used to mount mass challenges to the eligibility of hundreds of thousands of voters in competitive states, and, with Ziklag’s help, the group plans to ramp up those efforts.

According to an internal video, Ziklag plans to invest $800,000 in “EagleAI’s clean the rolls project,” which would be one of the largest known donations to the group.

Operation Checkmate

Ziklag lists two key objectives for Operation Checkmate: “Secure 10,640 additional unique votes in Arizona (mirroring the 2020 margin of 10,447 votes), and remove up to one million ineligible registrations and around 280,000 ineligible voters in Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and Wisconsin.”

In a recording of an internal Zoom call, Ziklag’s Mark Bourgeois stressed the electoral value of targeting Arizona. “I care about Maricopa County,” Bourgeois said at one point, referring to Arizona’s largest county, which Biden won four years ago. “That’s how we win.”

Targeting Transgender

Operation Watchtower

For Operation Watchtower, Wallnau explained in a members-only video that transgender policy was a “wedge issue” that could be decisive in turning out voters tired of hearing about Trump.

The left had won the battle over the “homosexual issue,” Wallnau said. “But on transgenderism, there’s a problem and they know it.” He continued: “They’re gonna wanna talk about Trump, Trump, Trump. … Meanwhile, if we talk about ‘It’s not about Trump. It’s about parents and their children, and the state is a threat,’” that could be the “target on the forehead of Goliath.”

As preacher and activist John Amanchukwu said at a Ziklag event, “We need a church that’s willing to do anything and everything to get to the point where we reclaim that which was stolen from us.”

“I am troubled about a tax-exempt charitable organization that’s set up and its main operation seems to be to get people to win office,” said Phil Hackney, a professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh and an expert on tax-exempt organizations.

“They’re planning an election effort,” said Marcus Owens, a tax lawyer at Loeb and Loeb and a former director of the IRS’ exempt organizations division. “That’s not a 501(c)(3) activity.”

“It’s an outlined program for Christian supremacy."

“It’s an outlined program for Christian supremacy."

[princessnijireiki]

money is such a funny thing, bc it's always simultaneously way less and way more than you would think, too.

like there's the easy joke of $5, $20, $100 is HUGE when you're a kid or young adult, but I also fairly recently was in a position where I had like $1K in the bank (in a sweet spot between a TON of major bills hitting) and it was like oh wow so $1K is a lot until it VERY SUDDENLY ISN'T bc it only STAYS a lot if your needs are already met. if your needs surpass your means, or frankly, you've been scraping by below or within your means but really shouldn't have been, that shit evaporates in an instant. car, teeth, emergency vet bills, food. poof!

or I saw a hypothetical, would you rather know every language on earth fluently, or get $3 million dollars? and I had to crunch the numbers, because if you work every year from 18 to 78 (as in well past retirement age/at the end of a lot of people's projected lifespan), you'd have to make $50K per year AFTER taxes, every year for 60 years, to earn an ACCUMULATED $3 million. at $30K/year, you'd have to work 100 years.

and then, the flipside of that is, unless you die at exactly those ages, peacefully and in perfect health, how many people still struggle to make ends meet at $30-50K even when they ARE young and healthy? what's that look like in a hurricane, or after a car wreck, a disability, having a pet, having a KID, a marriage, a divorce, a funeral? how many people make $30-50K and when that check engine light comes on, or their child needs braces, or grandma needs a home health aide, or they get injured or sick and need to take FMLA, they realize that one thing now has them financially fucked? how many people making $30-50K per year do you know who have 6 months' worth of expenses set aside in an emergency savings account?

meanwhile, for $3,000,000, that money as a lump you don't have to touch or live paycheck to paycheck on also means you can accumulate interest, invest money, and so on. the access to lifetimes of funds to provide ease to this one life is a huge privilege most of us will never, ever know, and then you find out some stupid as fuck movie or commercial campaign cost tens or hundreds of millions. those rich people who got squished in the idiot submarine... lifetimes of wealth between them and their imploding stupid boat.

and so you look at all that, and you look at what medical debt looks like, or recovery from a fire or something, and once you see enough of that, the lottery fantasy answers get a lot more boring. like, I'd still have to finish this degree, get and keep a job to carry insurance and max out my retirement— maybe a flexible enough job that you grind for a few years to replace your house's down payment in the lump sum, then pull mortgage, utilities, insurance, etc. out of that interest, and the job income is pure health insurance, 401K, and takeout/walking around money. you pay your debts, help take care of a handful of loved ones, retire them early or pay off a house (over time, so the interest can still accrue on a bigger amount of money than the new sum from X minus $house). splurge on a vacation every so often. set up a college fund for a few kids, or neices, or nephews, or cousins.

and then it's like... go fishing. eat well! learn to sleep without fear of poverty, I don't know. know that if the money can grow, it can help a LOT of people feel safe, and that succumbing to the emotional urge to take care of everybody before that egg can grow bigger is what keeps people in multigenerational poverty, and that it's gonna mean things don't get to be easy for you mentally, emotionally, or even in terms of labor unless you're cashing out your chips right now to take care of yourself (which is also valid!). pick a charity every year to make their day.

and it's bonkers that $3mil feels like such a real number compared to some of these lotteries or very wealthy people/their property in the world, that even though it's cartoonishly out of reach, among the stars, it feels like, "is it even that much?" and like... yes, it very much is lmao, even though if you're under 50 it's not guaranteed "never have to work again" money. but that also means it's not "buy a castle & become a beekeeper slash professional poet as my only sources of income" big dreams & fantasies money, either.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

After the arrival of a migrant family to Kalispell this week, Republican elected officials are calling for tighter immigration policy and the immediate deportation of the family, as well as casting blame on a local nonprofit group that provides support to immigrants and refugees in the Flathead Valley. While some officials publicly speculated the nonprofit paid to fly the migrants to Kalispell with the support of the Biden administration, the organization said it did not aid the migrants in traveling to the area.

Montana Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke on Thursday issued a press release describing the arrival of a Venezuelan migrant family and alleging that Kalispell nonprofit Valley Neighbors of the Flathead aided the family in traveling to Kalispell — an allegation the nonprofit denies. Zinke’s office described the nonprofit as a “dark money” group with ties to the Biden administration.

Valley Neighbors is a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that offers support to refugee and immigrant families in the Flathead Valley. According to tax filings submitted by the organization, it provides families with housing support, legal referrals and funding, medical and dental referrals, language services, educational support and transportation to meetings with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Helena.

According to Valley Neighbors Vice Chair Rebecca Miller, the organization has assisted “on an occasional and limited basis” in helping immigrants who have been released from immigration detention centers relocate to be with family members who already live in the Flathead Valley. The nonprofit has also worked to connect immigrants with sponsors in the Flathead Valley, occasionally providing travel expenses. However, Miller said, Valley Neighbors is not part of any government effort to “bus people in” to the Flathead and “had nothing to do with the family’s arrival” on Wednesday night.

“Dark money” typically refers to 501(c)(4) groups that spend money on political campaigns and do not disclose their donors. Valley Neighbors is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and does not contribute to political campaigns.

Zinke is a racist! Vote for his replacement, Monica Tranel!

According to Flathead County Sheriff Brian Heino, a family from Venezuela arrived at the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday night after flying to Kalispell from New York. The family purportedly crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas before flying to New York and then Kalispell. Heino said they arrived at the sheriff’s office after being turned away at a local homeless shelter, which had no space. Valley Neighbors arrived to offer assistance and hotel accommodations shortly thereafter.

Following the arrival of the family, Zinke on Thursday sent a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding DHS detain and deport the family. The letter included numerous questions for Mayorkas, including whether or not DHS had paid Valley Neighbors to help transport the family and what the department’s plan is to deport the individuals.

In response to the allegations by Zinke and others, Miller provided the following statement: “Valley Neighbors of the Flathead is a small community-supported nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian aid for immigrants in the Flathead Valley. As sometimes occurs, this week, we were made aware of an immigrant family in need after their arrival and responded by providing them assistance in accordance with our mission and the support of our community. We are saddened that our organization and the vulnerable families that we work with are being targeted and used for political gain through ill-informed and false statements made by some of our state’s elected officials.”

Heino on Thursday issued a two-page letter describing a recent increase in “contacts with individuals who have no residency status in the U.S.” The sheriff said his department has struggled to communicate with non-English speakers and to determine individuals’ identities and legal statuses during traffic stops and arrests.

“These, among many other challenges, cause deputies to spend significantly more time handling calls for service and are often unable to obtain a disposition acceptable to our community,” he wrote.

Heino also wrote that the increase in undocumented immigrants is “especially difficult” given the valley’s existing housing shortage and limited emergency resources.

“Our community has grown so fast and our resources have not,” he told the Beacon on Friday.

“I don’t blame anybody for wanting to come to the valley. It’s just, we’re maxed,” he said.

In the press release from Zinke’s office, Flathead County Commissioner Randy Brodehl described the arrival of the migrant family as “a continuation of a trend that has increased in both frequency and intensity over the last two years.”

The sheriff on Friday said the department could not provide exact numbers regarding interactions with undocumented immigrants. Brodehl said the county does not have any records or numbers of how many undocumented immigrants are in the area.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has reported 1.3 million encounters at the southern border since October 2023. Of the 1.3 million, 56% have been single adults, 39% have been members of a family unit and 5% have been unaccompanied minors. Republicans have accused the Biden administration of failing to address the influx of entrants at the border as major cities struggle to accommodate growing migrant populations.

Heino in his letter wrote, “Undocumented and illegal individuals are currently living in the Flathead, and many are working, often under the table, without contributing to the resources designed for those who work and live here legally. By working under the table, they are not paying into Social Security, workers’ compensation, state, or federal income taxes. They are allowed to utilize resources like Medicare, food stamps, housing assistance, and other resources designed to assist our legal citizens in our times of need.”

Under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), a 1996 federal act that established restrictions on welfare access, undocumented immigrants are not eligible for federal public benefits including unemployment, retirement, welfare, disability, food assistance and public housing. PRWORA also bars undocumented immigrants from accessing most local and state public benefits. Exceptions include treatment under Medicaid for emergency medical conditions, immunizations and in-kind services delivered on the community level, such as food from soup kitchens or short-term shelters. Per federal law, undocumented minors are permitted to enroll in public schools.

Correction: Due to incorrect information provided to the Beacon, a previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Valley Neighbors does not aid migrants in traveling to the area. Valley Neighbors offers assistance to migrants relocating to the area to reunite with family on “an occasional and limited basis,” and occasionally supports families relocating who have been connected with local sponsors. The story also indicated that Valley Neighbors receives no funding from the federal government. The organization receives a limited amount of funding from the U.S. Department of State.

[pinejay]

ok but if the internet archive loses in court wouldn't they just remove the digitized books they're being sued for? why would the entire thing get taken down i don't think that's how lawsuits work

[crazycrittersinc]

Plant Sale

We constructed a small greenhouse to grow food for the animal facility, and it was not long before we realized plants were a great way to provide revenue that could help us grow and care for wayward and or injured animals. Crazy Plants Nursery22919 County Road 44aEustis, Fl 32736 Here is our Google Map location so you can see where you are in comparison to us…https://g.page/CrazyPlants?share ⏰…

[pkentabibi]

Maximizing Impact a Non-Profit's Guide to Google Ads Grants

Unlock the potential of your non-profit with "Maximizing Impact: A Non-Profit's Guide to Google Ads Grants." This comprehensive eBook is your ultimate resource for making the most of the $10,000/month Google Ad Grant, explicitly designed for charities and non-profits. With clear, step-by-step guidance, this book will help you navigate the application process, manage campaigns effectively, and comply with Google’s policies. Learn the secrets of keyword research, ad creation, and more.

https://www.scribd.com/document/758440352/Maximizing-Impact-a-Non-Profit-s-Guide-to-Google-Ads-Grants

[sporadicarbiterearthquake-blog]

IRS calls terrorist front a charity

Brothers and Sisters;

The Council on American Islamic relations (CAIR), an organization US Air Force Investigator and Investigative reporter David Gaubatz called a "Muslim Mafia," is a proven front for the terrorist organization Hamas, and according to the Justice department an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the Holy Land terrorist financing trial, CAIR Is listed by the IRS as a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt charity. As such they are eligible to receive donations from foundations that are also.  Some of the foundations that have made donations to CAIR include American Online Giving Foundation, the California Endowment, the Weingart Foundation, Schwab Charitable Fund, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, East Bay Community Foundation and many others.  

Fortunately there are remedies available to informed and concern citizens.  Any citizen can complain that an undeserving organization is enjoying tax exempt status by. 

One of these two processes the public can use to notify the IRS of perceived violations by tax-exempt organizations. The first, which has no specific statutory basis, is Form 13909, which the IRS released in 2007.

If you suspect a tax-exempt organization is not complying with the tax laws, you may send information to the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division. You may use Form 13909, Tax-Exempt Organization Complaint (Referral) Form PDF, or send the information in letter format, and attach any supporting documentation for this purpose. Form 13909 PDF, or complaint letter, can be submitted one of the following ways:

Email to eoclass@irs.gov, or

Mail to TEGE Referrals Group, 1100 Commerce Street, MC 4910 DAL, Dallas, TX 75242

[queerliblib]

hello! first off, it's such a boost to my mood every time i see your logo, so happy you are flourishing! wishing you all many good things and pleasant, productive meetings.

i'm here to ask a follow up question about interacting with the site for people outside US •√•

in the ask (on 7th of july, i believe?) you said we will be able to access the website and your social links – but i'm just wondering if the titles or contents of the books will be accessible? will it be possible to read the books, staying on the website?

Hello! ty 🥰 

tl/dr: Right. so, unfortunately no.

more specifically (based on our current understanding*): when we launch, our library users will be able to sign up for a membership which will require people to provide: 1. A Name (not necessarily legal) 2. an email address 3. a US zip code. Once you’ve got your digital library card you’ll be able to access our collection on Libby through a portal on our website or directly through the Libby app. But again, getting that digital card & accessing the collection/reading the books is restricted to people who have a US zip code.

Digital e- & audio-book licensing often differs by country, so the licenses we will be able to buy will only apply to the US, which is why even though we’ll try to collect as little data as possible about our patrons, we’ll still need that zip code.

[satanicspinosaurus]

Humans make up somewhere around .01% of the biomass on Earth. Animals collectively make up about 2.59 gigatons of carbon (with arthropods making up the biggest chunk of that at about 1 Gt C) while plants represent a whopping 450 Gt C.

If someone has a non-anthropocentric view point & truly cares about the fragile web of life that allows me, a human animal, to live on this planet- I think that's a fine thing. I personally prefer to center my efforts around local humans, but the dude who is freaking out about monarch butterfly migration because the species is now endangered is not my enemy. The reality is acidifying the seas will fuck up calcium absorption in marine arthropods well before it affects me, a megafauna. But it will get back to me eventually. Anyone who has the ability to care greatly and deeply about something like another living creature shouldn't feel a gram of shame about it. I'm guessing the internet is having a moment specifically re: the student encampments because my dash is filled with posts like this today. I'm not saying to not feel those feelings or examine systems here. What I want to encourage you, is to think about how a calculated view of activism has been encouraged by rich tech bros in ther last decade. (So called "effective alturism".) I hope you, and truly believe you wouldn't, would never tell a person forced to carry a child to term in the US because of the fall of Roe would tell them that it's fine- they aren't dying like people in X or Y or Z places. I believe you would accept their suffering, and offer what you could. I don't think the woman who lets her yard grow wild for local pollinators or the enby who joins the civilian frog watch to help monitor local populations or the guy who pushes for bills to get rid of gestation crates in hog farming will save the world. Anymore than I believe the giving out free tampons to prisoners, funding cheap TB tests or co-ops that build maternity wards will. But I don't want an ounce less of any of it.

one of these days we as a society have to talk abt how the vast majority of people openly care more about animals and their welfare than they do about real human lives and don't feel an ounce of shame about it

[eastsidemags]

ComicBooks for Kids Weekend!

East Side Mags is proud to announce our new partnership with ComicBooks for Kids out of Saint Charles, IL!

This weekend is their big fundraising/awareness weekend and we’re stoked to be a part of it.

About the organization: ComicBooks For Kids! (CB4K.ORG ) Incorporated in the state of Illinois, is the largest 501(C)3 charity in North America and the UK for comic books and pop culture items to children in hospitals and cancer centers. They support over 200 hospitals, orphanages and other social organizations in all 50 states to all demographics and to all provinces in Canada. The number of hospitals they support increases every month. They are a free service to all of these hospitals and a partial list of those they support can be found here.  https://www.comicbooksforkids.org/medicalfacilities   They do this full time, every day of the week. As mentioned above, their sister charity, ComicBooks For Troops provided over 100,000 comic books and graphic novels last year becoming the largest charity in our industry to all branches of the military for these items.

Now - here’s how you can help:

Come by and shop with us between March 1-3 and we’ll donate 10% of our proceeds to CB4K! The more you spend, the more we donate!

PLUS: You can also bring in comics, graphic novels, toys, plushes and more to donate and we can ship those items to CB4K along with our monetary donation!

Help us help kids in need! See you soon!

[petnews2day]

Humane Society of Richland County's longest resident dog adopted after more than a year

New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/ywdQP

Humane Society of Richland County's longest resident dog adopted after more than a year

MANSFIELD — Shakira, a 3-year-old female terrier-mix dog, was adopted on Saturday, Feb. 17 after spending 368 days at the Humane Society of Richland County. “This adoption was a long time coming,” said Linda Chambers, Managing Director. “While the animals in our care have an unlimited amount of time that they can stay with us, we […]

See full article at https://petn.ws/ywdQP #DogNews #501C3, #CandaceLybarger, #Featured, #HumaneSocietyOfRichlandCounty, #Shakira

[paragonchristianalliance]

We offer 501(c)3 charter renewal form which is an annual report as required by the IRS for PCAI and continue to provide you the 501(c)3 tax-exemption for your ministry.

[cryusa]

This blog addresses the pervasive issue of child marriage, emphasizing its detrimental impact on girls' well-being, perpetuation of poverty, and reinforcement of gender inequalities. It advocates for a comprehensive approach involving legal reforms, education, and awareness campaigns. CRY America, a nonprofit, actively supports marginalized children, particularly girls, affected by child marriage in India, fostering positive change through grassroots projects. Support their mission by donating to empower vulnerable children and break the cycle of poverty.

[just-a-gal-with-a-boomerang]

My local queer bookstore is being threatened with eviction over their free narcan and fentanyl test strips, free store for the unhoused, and free narcan trainings.

Bluestockings is an incredible worker-owned community space that has been apart of the Lower East Side for 25 years. But in the last couple years, they've faced increasing harassment from the wealthier neighbors moving in and complaining about the presence of unhoused people around their store front. Despite all their community work being allowed by their lease, the landlord is pushing for an eviction.

Please help support Bluestockings! Visit them (if you're local), order books online, donate! We need more queer and community-oriented spaces, not another overpriced coffee shop or chain franchise.